International Conference on "India R & D 2005 - A Knowledge hub of the Future"
November 7, 2005, New Delhi

Press Release : President of India Outlines 4-Point "Mission Mode" Agenda to Power India as World's Knowledge Hub

New Delhi, November 7, 2005. The President, Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, today gave a clarion call to the nation, especially the scientists, researchers and industry to immediately move into 'mission mode" for time-bound collaborative research to enable India to realize the vision of establishing itself as the world's knowledge hub.

Inaugurating the two-day summit on 'India R&D 2005 - The World's Knowledge Hub of the Future", organized by FICCI in partnership with CSIR, Departments of Science & Technology and Industrial Policy and Promotion, Government of India the President said that key components for the evolution of the knowledge hub are: attracting youth for science learning and career, focused national R&D programmes, urge for the industry to become internationally competitive and the need for electronic and knowledge connectivity through four grids.

Attracting the youth towards a career in science, Dr. Kalam said that it was of paramount importance that the pursuit of pure science and research should be able to guarantee an assured career for the youth of the country.

He elaborated this by stating this:

This can be achieved through action on various fronts. There is need to work towards the creation of a science cadre, with well defined growth path and attractive salaries. There should be a minimum annual intake of about 400 M.Sc and 200 Ph. Ds with assured career growth in the organizations such as ISRO, DRDO, Atomic Energy, CSIR, DST and the Universities. Similarly, private sector industries in pharma, IT, oil and natural gas, power, transportation, agriculture should be able to attract additional four hundred M.Sc., and two hundred Ph. Ds every year for carrying out research on frontier areas of science and technology.

Outlining his vision on key areas of R & D which will have global implications and also meeting the National requirements, the President called for focus on Nano-technology and its applications, CNT based Solar Photo Voltaic Cell, Nano Technology for Cancer Treatment; nuclear energy, efficient bio-fuel energy; fight against HIV/AIDS; aerospace industry; and the ICT sector.

The R & D programmes in various sectors of the knowledge society for meeting the national development requirements need to be synergised through a connectivity mission to bridge the components of the knowledge society and enable the nation to develop and produce the products in a cost effective manner.

The electronic connectivity for one billion people must transform into a network and provide a seamless access between knowledge creator, converter of knowledgeable products and the knowledge consumers. This can be achieved through the creation of knowledge grid, health grid, governance grid and PURA Grid.

To maximize the synergy between the grids, leading to maximization of GDP and productivity, there is a need for inter-grid connectivities, or the societal grid. Knowledge sharing, knowledge utilization and knowledge re-use is very vital by all constituents of the society for promoting non-linear growth. Societal Grid, he said consists of: Knowledge GRID, inter connecting universities with socio-economic institutions, industries and R&D organizations; Health Care GRID, inter-connecting the Health Care institutions of Government. Corporate and Super specialty hospitals, Research institutions, educational institutions and ultimately, Pharma R & D institutions; E-Governance GRID, inter-connecting the Central Government and State Governments and District and Block level offices for G2G and G2C connectivity and PURA Knowledge GRID, connecting the PURA Nodal centers with the Village knowledge centers and Domain Service providers. Since this is the backbone for rural development, all other GRIDs will infuse the knowledge into this GRID for sustainable development, healthcare and good governance. For example, five of the Periyar PURA villages have now connected using Wi-MAX connectivity.

The President said,integrated village knowledge centers would act as an inter-connected delivery mechanism for tele-education tele-medicine and e-Governance services apart from individual access by the people, within and between the Village Knowledge Centres through the PURA Grid.

In order to make the country the most advanced knowledge society, we should aim at making the bandwidth available without hindrance and at no cost. Making the bandwidth available is like the Government laying the roads. Movement of materials through these roads creates wealth in the industrial economy and the government recovers more than the investment on the roads by way of taxes and enhanced prosperity of its people. In the modern digital economy driven by knowledge products, bits and bytes traverse the network and create wealth and this will recover the cost of investments in the bandwidth. Cost effective creation of the four Grids and inter connectivity between Grids is the profound platform for collaborative research, development and deployment.

Dr. Kalam said that in the 21st century, India needs large number of talented youth with higher education for the task of knowledge acquisition, knowledge imparting, knowledge creation and knowledge sharing. Keeping this resource in mind, the Universities and educational systems should create two cadres of personnel; One, a global cadre of skilled youth with specific knowledge of special skills, and two, another global cadre of youth with higher education. These two cadres will be required not only for powering the manufacturing and services sector of India but also will be needed for fulfilling the human resource requirements of various countries.

Minister of State for Science and Technology, Mr. Kapil Sibal, said that the cost and competitive advantages offered by India for conducting R&D was a major factor in attracting top multinational companies to shift their research centers to this country. This was a reflection of the recognition that India was fast turning into the world's R&D hub.

The summit was addressed by top scientists including Prof. V.S. Ramamurthy, Secretary, Department of Science & Technology; Dr. R.A. Mashelkar, Director General CSIR; Dr. Ajay Dua, Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion; and the FICCI President, Mr. Onkar S. Kanwar.

Media Division